Process of preserving bagasse, &amp;c., and making fuel therefrom.



TATE FATENT tlFFlQEQ WILLIAM GEVEKE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF PRESERVING BAGASSE, 660., AND IVIAKING FUEL THEREFROIWL N0 Drawing.

To all 111720222 it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM Gnvnnn, a subject of the Queen of l'lolland, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New Yorkhave invented Processes of Preserving Bagasse, its, and lllaking Fuel 'lherefroni, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a process of preserving bagasse, etc., and making fuel, preferably briquets, therefrom.

is is well known, bagasse is the term applied to the crushed and broken sugar cane, after the expression therefrom of sugar juice by the cane crushers. Such bagasse conn mouly contains a larg proportion of moisturet-his proportion of moisture varying however, greatly, according to various conditions. Bagasse is commonly burned in the furnaces of the boilers of the sugar mills where the bagasse is produced, but very commonly all of the bagassc produced is not required for fuel, and at the end of a seasons operations a large quantity of unconsumed bagasse frequently remains. In many places where sugar cane is grown, solid fuel, such as coal nd wood, and fuel oil, are very expensive. At the beginning of a new season operations a considerable quantity of fuel is required before bagasse becomes available, and it is extrcmelv desirable to carry over the bagasse from one seasons operations to the next seasons operations, in order that such bagasse may be available as fuel for the next seasons operations. However, bagasse, if stacked loosely, in the ordinary manner, will not carry over from one season to another, but rots and spoils, becoming utterly unsuitable for fuel. This is doubtless due in a measure to the extreme humidity and high temperature of the climate in which sugar cane grows.

Contrary to what might be at first thought to be the case, I have discovered that if the bagasse be baled tightly, instead of being merely stacked loosely, it will dry without spoilingto any material extent, and may thus be carried over from one season to another; and as a result of remaining in bales for a considerable time, it becomes so dry that it forms a very good fuel. As is well known, fresh, and therefore very wet, ba gasse is very poor fuel, because of its large Specification of Letters fatent.

Application filed July 3, 1917.

Patented Mar. 12, ll-QlS.

Serial No. 178,345.

moisture content. But when baled and allowed to remain in baled form for some months, this contained moisture largely evaporates.

In carrying out my invention, therefore, the wet bagasse, either the bagasse direct from the crusher mills, or the excess bagasse remaining after that required for the feeding of the boiler furnaces, etc., is baled tightly, preferably as soon as possible after production. For this purpose, ordinary baling presses, and ordinary baling methods, are employed; the cane, though badly broken and crushed by the usual crusher mills, being nevertheless in pieces of suliicient length to permit baling. The bales thus produced are then set aside, stacked if desired, and allowed to dry naturally. I believe that the failure of the material within the bales to spoil is due, in large measure at least, to the exclusion of moisture from the interior of the bales, as a result of the tight baling to which the material is subject. This tight baling, however, does not prevent more or less circulation of air through the bale, or the gradual escape of moisture as the moisture content of the baled material evaporates.

In another application, Serial No.178,35--, filed July 3, 1917, I have described a process of preparing bagasse for use as fuel, which process consists in mixing intimately with the bagasse dry vegetable material, particularly dry sugar cane leaves. The bagasse treated according to the process herein described may be bagasse by itself, or a mixture of bagasse and leaves, such as produced by the process of my said companion ap plioation, Serial No. 178,345. filed July 3, 1917; and I intend the term bagasse to include, in. a broad sense, thi mixture of plain bagasse and dried vegetable material, as well as bagasse proper.

After the baled bagasse has sufliciently dried, it may be worked up into solid fuel. For this purpose, the dried bagasse released from the bales, may be pressed into briquets; the sugar juice remaining in the bagasse in itself forming the binder required for holding the material in briquet form after compression in the usual briqueting machines. In general, it is desirable to cut the bagasse into very small pieces before feeding the same to the briqueting machine; ordinary cutters or disintegraters being employed for thi purpose.

VVhet I claim is:

5 The herein described process of making briquets and the like from bagasse, which consist in billing moist begasse tightly and allowing the same to dry in baled form, and

subsequently releasing the material from its 10 baled form and forming it into briquets,

the contained adhesive material of the bagasse forming a binder for the briquets.

I In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses. I

WILLIAM GEVEKE.

VJitnesses:

H. M. MARBLE, E. S. Ross.

Copies of this; patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. G. 

